


The End of the Line

by gth694e



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Gen, Spoilers, Stream of Consciousness, but I have feelings and I had to get them out, not quite a proper fic, seriously do not read if you haven't seen the movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-27
Updated: 2019-04-27
Packaged: 2020-02-07 04:21:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18613045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gth694e/pseuds/gth694e
Summary: A missing scene between Steve and Bucky right before the end of the movie.





	The End of the Line

**Author's Note:**

> This is un-betaed because I just had some feels I needed to post. So all mistakes are my own. 
> 
> It's not quite written in a traditional fic fashion, but I hope you enjoy it all the same.

There is no way Bucky doesn’t know what Steve is planning. No way they didn’t talk about it. This is why when Steve says goodbye to him, Bucky’s eyes are red and there are tears in his eyes. He knows this is it. 

The end of the line.

Steve will go back to Peggy and the life he always wanted, because Steve hasn’t been able to move on, can’t move on. 

Some people move on, but not him.

And without Natasha and Tony there is nothing holding him in the 21st century, except one: Bucky.

(There is Sam, there is constant dear Sam, but Sam lived a full life before Steve and he’ll live a full life after. Sam doesn’t need Steve. This is what will make Sam a good Captain America. He is comfortable and confident in his own skin, and yes, he loves with his full heart--completely and without hesitation--but he does not need anyone else to function day to day.)

Steve tells Bucky. He confesses the plan, thinking they are co-conspirators. That they both can go back. No one will question it if Steve says he needs backup, or his choice of Bucky. With Natasha and Tony gone, and Hawkeye refusing to leave his family’s side, the only real choices are Bucky and Sam. And well, Bucky has lived through more of the times they are visiting. Bucky makes a wise choice for someone to watch your six through time.

“Come with me. Let’s go home,” Steve says.

But Bucky no longer knows what home is. Is home the small hut in Wakanda, where children shriek in delight because of the exotic White Wolf? Or perhaps it’s an apartment in Bucharest, where he was alone but finally intrinsically himself. Home certainly wasn’t the home-base where only a cold machine and an even colder tube waited for him. Or the tent in the Alps where Bucky and Steve huddled for warmth. Once home had been an apartment with Steve, where two young men as close as brothers somehow scraped by through tips and tricks. And once upon a time home had been a warm hearth, sitting on the floor with his sister while his mother knitted and his father read the paper. 

Bucky is a long way from the Bucky who left for war. To be honest, he hasn’t been the same since Zola first captured him. That Bucky had questioned how he could just go back to his old life. And this Bucky—this new Bucky with his broken memory and metal arm—well, that life seemed like a faint dream from long ago. Far less real, far less tangible than the 21st century. 

So no, Bucky will not be going “home.” Not while there is a young princess who he owes his memories, his arm, his life. Not while there is Sam who means well, will do well, but like all idealists--like Steve--needs someone to watch his back and do what needs to be done.

Not when Natalia has died for this future, and there are so few in it who know her name, who remember her fire and fury and brilliance. 

No, Bucky owes too many people here and now. Including Steve Rogers.

Steve cries. He says he can’t choose. Not between Bucky and Peggy. How can he go back to her when he leaves Bucky here?

But Bucky reminds him that he’s in the past too. And maybe, in his new timeline, maybe Steve can find Bucky, and make that his home too. 

But this Bucky, this Bucky must stay. This Bucky can’t go.

Bucky tells him to go. Be happy. Don’t stay in this miserable future for Bucky. Bucky will be fine. Bucky can adapt and move on. 

And after years of the tables being turned their unnatural way, with Steve the larger and stronger one, constantly rushing headlong in to save Bucky, well, maybe it’s finally time for Bucky to once again save Steve. 

Together until the end of the line, they swore from a young age. But this is it. This is the end of the line. 

Because the 21st century is killing Steve Rogers—making him a pure soldier dedicated only to his work. It is killing that young artist, who dreamed of a future without bullies, and subsuming him in the role of Captain America. This is not how Bucky wanted Steve to end.

Bucky always knew there would come a day in his life when Steve Rogers would not be there. The knowledge has been his constant companion since infancy. Whether the measles, or asthma, or the flu, Bucky has always known that Steve would be taken from him. 

He always knew this day was coming. 

But it still hurts. 

So when Steve tells him not to do anything stupid until he gets back, Bucky smiles but his eyes sting with tears. He almost wants to change his mind. He almost wants to ask Banner to wait while he runs and gets his suit.

But Bucky owes too much, and Steve owes no one. Steve deserves this. Steve, who has sacrificed so much, deserves to be happy. 

And Sam, who has no idea what is about to happen, he will need someone. 

One minute Steve is there, the next he is gone. Banner counts down his return, but Steve does not reappear. 

Bucky was expecting it, but it still hurts.

Steve promised he would come back—if he was still alive, if he could find a way to make the journey from his timeline—and assure him it had all gone okay. So Bucky turns, looking and expecting.

He sees a white-haired old man on a bench, looking over the lake. 

And Bucky relaxes. Steve got what he wanted. And yet Steve is still here. An older Steve, a more worn Steve, but still Steve.

Bucky points Sam in Steve’s direction. Let them have their moment. Let Steve give Sam the shield, hand the mantle and expectation of Captain America to the young idealist. Bucky will have his moment later.

In that moment there will be tears again, on both sides. Steve will tell him everything. He will speak of going back to Peggy, of sweeping her off her feet and her tears and disbelief. How he proposed but could not marry her yet, not while he knew his best friend was in his enemy hands.

He will speak of an alternate reality where Captain America braved the threat of turning the Cold War into a heated conflict, by singlehandedly invading Russia and burning down every Hydra base until he found Bucky Barnes.

And he will tell of how Bucky stood as the best man at his wedding to Peggy. 

Steve will explain how he kept SHIELD from ever becoming compromised, making Armin Zola stand trial for his crimes against humanity. 

He will tell of a world where Steve was there by Howard’s side when Tony was born. A world where Steve and Peggy destroyed the Red Room before it began, and a young red-headed girl became a ballerina without ever touching a gun. He’ll speak of a world where all the mistakes of the 20th century are never made, where they are all whole and happy.

A fairytale, a dream, one that Steve Rogers deserves. 

And Bucky Barnes will know he made the right decision.

Because Steve Rogers is finally whole, complete and happy. And it’s enough.


End file.
